


the in-between

by experimentaldragonfire



Series: The Way to Your Roommate's Heart [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Lapidot Week 2020, a collection of related short works, all from within the roommate's heart college au, because apparently i can't leave that universe alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:40:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23863900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/experimentaldragonfire/pseuds/experimentaldragonfire
Summary: Bits and pieces from Lapis and Peridot's relationship, taking place (mostly) between the other two stories in this series.Written for Lapidot Week 2020 (aka the Final Lapidot Week)
Relationships: Lapis Lazuli/Peridot (Steven Universe)
Series: The Way to Your Roommate's Heart [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1634065
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39





	1. Raindrops

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So, like I've said, this is just going to be a handful of short insights into moments from Lapis and Peridot's relationship in the midst of my Roommate's Heart series, because apparently I just have a sudden burst of inspiration to write for that particular AU. This isn't all going to be quite as saccharine as the primary two fics, though it definitely won't be Properly Angsty or anything.
> 
> Each chapter will be based off of the day's prompt from Lapidot Week 2020: this first chapter is for April 26th, "Singing in the rain/Kissing in the rain."
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Lapis didn’t know how she had ended up here.

Well. That wasn’t entirely accurate. Objectively, she was well aware of the fact that she had slipped out of her dorm room in the middle of the night, feet bare against the drenched pavement, to stand in the middle of the empty grass field at two in the morning in the pouring rain. It was the rest that she was uncertain of.

Like, for instance, how she had gone from reluctantly putting up with her loud, abrasive roommate to being in the first stages of a relationship with the girl.

How she had come to college with the intent to just grit her teeth and get through it, to finish her degree and leave, to not make any personal attachments, and instead…

…yeah. See how well that worked out.

The rain had, by now, soaked straight through Lapis’ thin pyjamas, leaving the short-sleeved _Class of 2019_ shirt clinging to her awkwardly. She wasn’t sure how much she cared, though, really. The chill of the night barely bothered her, lost as she was in her thoughts.

It wasn’t as if she resented Peridot. Not at all, quite the opposite, in fact. Despite initial reservations, she had found herself smiling at her roommate’s presence, laughing at her antics, and steadfastly ignoring the way her breath caught in her chest and her heartbeat quickened at their most simple interactions. She just wasn’t quite sure what to _do_ from here.

She wouldn’t say she had been in a real relationship, before. She vehemently did not count her brief fling in high school with her worst enemy as any sort of _relationship_ —more so a parody of such things. But even with that behind her, Lapis couldn’t figure out where she was _going_ with this. Inevitably, relationships only had two conclusions, right? A messy breakup, or…

She wasn’t going to think about that, either. They had only been dating for roughly two weeks. No sense in dwelling on anything that far ahead—or…?

Lapis hung her head, noting how her hair stuck to her face in scraggly clumps, the washed-out blue dripping in the periphery of her vision. She was probably overthinking this. But it couldn’t be helped—rainstorms had always made her contemplative, and the uncertainty she had been feeling lately wasn’t going to go away unless she confronted it.

Lost in her thoughts, though, she didn’t notice the figure approaching her from across the quad until the raindrops aggressively soaking her suddenly stopped, replaced by the pattering sound of them bouncing off of an umbrella. Lapis looked up, and met the worried green eyes of Peridot, her roommate/girlfriend, who was holding the handle to shelter them both.

“Is everything alright? Lapis, how long have you been out here?”

“It’s…fine, really. You shouldn’t worry about me.”

Peridot frowned at this, and reached out a hand to clasp Lapis’ shoulder. She flinched, and her eyes widened.

“You’re freezing! Come on, I don’t care what time it is, you’re going to come inside and shower.”

“Peridot, I…did I wake you, earlier?”

The other girl froze, halfway through dragging Lapis back towards their shared dorm. “No, not really. I’m just kind of a light sleeper—I woke up to the rain, and I saw that you weren’t in bed, and…I don’t know. I looked out the window and saw you here, and…why are you standing in the rain, Lapis?”

Instead of replying, Lapis looked down at her feet and closed her eyes. She wasn’t sure that she could quite have this conversation yet—not with everything still so new, so fragile. She wasn’t sure that starting a relationship with her roommate was the best idea in the first place, but…

Peridot was still looking at her, but her vice-grip on her arm had loosened, her fingers sliding down instead to encircle Lapis’ wrist. Behind her slightly fogged-up round glasses, her eyes were wide with concern, but Lapis’ girlfriend didn’t press the issue.

“You don’t have to tell me right now. But sometime, please? I want you to know that you can talk to me. That’s what this should be, right? A relationship? You shouldn’t have to hide from me because you’re scared that I—that I’ll think you’re weird, or suddenly decide I don’t want to be with you. Because I won’t, or at least I don’t see myself doing any of those things.”

Lapis exhaled slowly, finally looking up to meet Peridot’s eyes. “Thanks, I…promise I’ll speak to you. Not right now, but sometime. Soon.” She couldn’t articulate the myriad of emotions swimming through her brain at the moment, but Peridot probably had a right to know at least a few of them.

“That’s all I’m asking, really.” Peridot’s voice was soft, barely above a murmur. The rain continued to splash onto the umbrella, and the ground beneath their feet was undeniably squishy. Lapis conceded that it was, probably, time to return inside.

Before Peridot turned away towards the dorm again, though, Lapis smiled down at her, and leaned in to kiss her gently on the lips. Peridot made a tiny surprised _squeak!_ , but acquiesced quickly, leaning in closer towards Lapis. The increased proximity of Peridot’s warm body made Lapis realize how cold she was, however, and she broke the kiss as a shiver ran all the way through her body.

Peridot sighed disapprovingly, and tugged on her arm once again. This time, Lapis allowed herself to be pulled along, back towards the dorm, where Peridot fished her keycard out of her pyjama pants’ pocket (and _oh_ , Lapis had left her wallet behind in their room, how had she been planning on getting back in?) and yanked the door open, dragging Lapis inside and out of the rain.

Lapis wouldn’t admit it, but curling up under the covers with her girlfriend after a hot shower chased the chill from her bones was a better way of making her mind quiet down than any length of time spent standing in the rain could be.


	2. Ocean Air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lapidot Week 2020 Day 2: The beach/Sweater weather
> 
> A bit of an experiment in present tense for today, and a LOT of reminiscing on that senior-year feeling of something temporary coming to an end. I promise some of these will actually be outright happy, and not all melancholy and wistful! 
> 
> In other news, thank you so much to everyone who's read this so far and left kudos! You're all wonderful and inspiring--and special shoutouts to anyone who's reblogged my post(s) about this from my fic-writing tumblr (experimentaldragonfire-fics.tumblr.com). <3

It’s the Friday before finals week, in the middle of December. They both have at least three essays apiece to finish, as well as a few exams to take in person, and yet Peridot has dragged them three hours across the state to the beach, her ancient pea-green Ford Taurus protesting all the while, to stand and stare out at the grey ocean waves.

Lapis would swim in nearly any conditions, but the combination of the harsh breeze and the threatening stormclouds have her curling her fingers into the too-long arms of the sweater she had knitted herself last summer, with its collection of missed stitches and loose threads. She turns her head and finds Peridot buried inside her own neon hoodie, shivering in the wind.

“You’re the one who wanted to come out here, you know.”

“Yeah, and I don’t regret it. Just maybe the part where I forgot to put my spare blankets back in my car after I washed them last week.”

Lapis sighs fondly, and steps sideways slightly, bumping her arm into Peridot’s. Her girlfriend takes this as permission to attach herself to her side like a limpet, and Lapis can feel her trembling start to relax as their shared body heat warms her.

“What are we doing here, really?” Lapis asks, addressing the question more to the ocean than to Peridot. It doesn’t matter, anyway—she knows Peri will answer. In a way, she’s sometimes convinced that Peridot knows what’s on her mind more reliably than she does herself.

“It’s senior year,” Peridot begins, words muffled slightly where she’s got her face buried into Lapis’ shoulder. “And I know it’s not the end, not yet, but…you haven’t talked about what you’re doing after. So I thought, maybe…we should talk about it?”

“So you drove us to the ocean to talk?”

“I thought it’d be…easier, somewhere like this. Where we’re the only ones around, really and truly. College campuses aren’t known for their privacy.” She laughs under her breath, and Lapis blushes—she’d been trying to forget about _that_ incident for the better part of the last two years. Still, Peridot’s words make her breath stick in her throat. What could be so difficult to talk about that they’d need the privacy afforded by a three-hour car ride to a deserted beach?

Peridot hums into Lapis’ shoulder. “I can _hear_ you worrying. It’s not bad, I promise. I just was wondering if you hadn’t mentioned anything because…you haven’t been letting yourself think about what’s going to happen after graduation?”

And there it is—the thing Lapis has been trying so desperately to avoid. Of course Peridot would notice. She really doesn’t know why she’s still so surprised when her girlfriend is this perceptive—although maybe it’s because Peri is usually fairly blind to other people’s emotions. After three-and-a-bit years together, though, is it really that strange that Peridot would be able to read her like a book?

Lapis shifts slightly, so she’s looking at Peridot rather than out to sea. “I just…never really planned much for what I was going to _do_ after I graduated. I kept thinking I’d have time to figure it out, but…suddenly it’s less than six months away, and I should have a plan by now, and…I don’t.”

Peridot links her fingers together, and leans into Lapis a bit more heavily. “I kind of thought that’s what you’d say. And I also had to ask you…well, I guess…I don’t want this to be over, you know?”

“College?”

“ _No—_ well, kind of? But more than that… _this_. Us. I don’t want this to be, like, the kind of thing where we promise to stay together after graduation, but we move apart and can’t handle long-distance and slowly stop even calling each other and don’t talk until we bump into each other at our twentieth reunion, and it’s the most awkward thing we’ve ever experienced.” Peridot stares at their bare feet, her own toes curling into the sand. “Because I don’t want to lose you, Lapis. These last few years—I can’t even imagine what they’d have been like without you.”

Lapis finds herself, suddenly, fighting back a tell-tale burning sensation in her eyes. She swallows, hard, not trusting herself to speak, and instead wraps her arms around Peridot properly, leaning her weight on the shorter girl. “I don’t want this to end either,” she whispers, the roughness of her voice probably betraying how close she is to tears. She feels Peridot smile against her neck, and the watery chuckle she gets in response tells her that she isn’t the only one overwhelmed by an onslaught of emotion.

“You know…I got an offer for an internship. Out across the country, in northern California. I’d have to find my own place to stay, but…that means I can choose who I stay with, you know? And I don’t know if you’d want to, and you don’t have to at all, but…I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have as a roommate.”

The words take a moment to sink in. Peridot is…moving across the country after graduation? And…she wants Lapis to come with her?

Maybe once, Lapis would have had to think about the answer, but now the response comes easily to her—as do the tears, now, properly falling down her cheeks as she presses a kiss to the top of Peridot’s head. “Of course I’ll come live with you,” she whispers, barely louder than the crashing ocean waves. “Besides, what were you planning on doing if I said no? We bought literally all our kitchen stuff together last year—were you going to run off with half the cutlery?”

“I was…maybe planning on it.”

Lapis snorts, feeling lighter than she has in days. Yes, she still has finals, and an entire semester to go, but she has a plan, finally—and something to look forward to, after graduation. Something to start off the rest of her life.


	3. Dawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who's read any of this so far! 
> 
> Today's prompt is day 3: "Good nights/Good mornings". And a shoutout to turtle_ly, whose comment about Lapis and Peri on graduation day inspired the setting of this chapter--although it's not technically the graduation ceremony, it IS the day of it.

The morning was unremarkable in most senses, dawning grey and cool in a departure from the typical May weather that had so far characterized the week. The persistent beeping of an alarm was the thing that had dragged Lapis out of her peaceful slumber, and she cracked her eyes open begrudgingly as she felt Peridot’s arm tighten around her waist, her girlfriend burying her face between Lapis’ shoulderblades in an attempt to deny the call to get up.

Lapis blinked away the haze of sleep from her eyes, and poked the alarm until it shut itself off. For a moment or two, she simply lay in silence, staring out at the room filled with half-packed boxes and haphazardly strewn belongings.

She felt Peridot sigh, and heard an inaudible murmur from behind her.

“Would you like to try that again?” Lapis asked, smiling. Peri had never been a morning person, and Lapis found her grumpiness when awoken before 11AM incredibly endearing. Peridot made an irritated noise, and rolled onto her back, stealing Lapis’ portion of the bedsheets as she went.

“I just…we’re really here. It’s really happening. Our last day.”

“Surely you realized that before _right now_.”

“Well, yeah, but…I don’t know. Kinda feels like I’ve been living in a dream for the past few weeks, and suddenly…” Peridot trailed off, vaguely waving her arms. Lapis knew what she meant. Her eyes lingered on the pair of black robes hanging side by side off of the wardrobe doors.

“Yeah. In a few hours, we’ll be handed the most expensive piece of paper we’ve ever owned before.”

Peridot snorted, shoving at Lapis’ shoulder. “Come on, really? The most monumental event of our lives so far, the culmination of four years of work, and you’ve reduced it down to the paper?”

Lapis grinned. “To be fair, it represents a _lot_ of money that we’ve given this school over the past four years.”

“Maybe that _you’ve_ given them—did you forget that I’ve got like, three scholarships that cover most of my tuition?”

“Nerd.”

That answer earned her a raspberry blown into the back of her neck, and Lapis shrieked in surprise. “ _Peri!_ What are you, a third grader?”

She shifted onto her other shoulder so that she could look her girlfriend in the face, and rolled her eyes when she saw how hard Peridot was trying to hold back laughter.

“Really?”

Lapis received no reply.

The comfortable silence was broken by the renewed wailing of the alarm clock, signaling the time when they should definitely begin getting ready. Lapis disentangled herself from the sheets and from Peridot, and swung her feet to the floor.

“Look, I’ll shower first and let you have ten more minutes of rest, okay? But you can’t sleep in for the rest of the day, you know?”

Peridot’s response, muffled by the blankets she’d shoved her face into, was a sleepy “I know,” accompanied by what might have been a nod of the head. Lapis sighed, and pushed away the tangle of blonde hair that poked out of the top of the blanket pile, pressing a gentle kiss to Peridot’s forehead.

“Good morning, you dork. I know it’s the last morning we’re gonna spend here, but that doesn’t mean it’s the last morning we’ll ever have together.”

“I know that too,” Peridot replied, and her hand emerged from the blanket cocoon to tangle her fingers with Lapis’. “It’s just going to be different, from now on. More real, I guess.”

Lapis exhaled slowly, squeezing Peridot’s hand. “Yeah, you’re right. But that’s for the best, isn’t it? I mean, I’d rather be in reality with you than stuck in some dream for eternity. Especially if the dream is eternal college.”

At this, Peridot pulled the covers down from around her face, and met Lapis’ eyes with her own slightly unfocused stare. Lapis smiled and plucked Peridot’s glasses from the bedside table, shaking the frame to unfold the arms and sliding them into place on Peridot’s nose.

“You know that’s terrible for the glasses, right?”

“Oh, absolutely. But hey, you do it all the time.”

“They’re _my_ glasses! I can treat them however I want to!”

The alarm went off for a third time, abruptly ending the oft-repeated debate. Lapis and Peridot locked eyes for a moment, before erupting into giggles.

“Go on, go have your shower,” Peridot said, shoving Lapis away from the bed. “I’ll still be here to argue with you about proper glasses care when you get back.”

Lapis grinned, stooping to give Peridot a peck on the lips before she grabbed her towel from its hook by the door and turned back to face her. “You’d better be. And every morning for the foreseeable future as well, I’d hope.”

She slipped out of the door, leaving Peridot smiling to herself in a puddle of blankets and residual warmth. At least, she was smiling until the last remark caught up to her.

“Wait—was that an _eyesight pun_?!”


	4. Drawing Conclusions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! As always--thank you to everyone who's read this fic so far! I hope you're enjoying how it's going.
> 
> For today, we've got Day 4's prompt: "Drawing each other/Model AU." I've gone for the first option here, as this...already takes place in an AU. 
> 
> I didn't actually intend to make these go in a chronological order, but...it's just happened that way. We'll see if I keep that up going forward, I suppose.
> 
> Thank you again for reading!

Palm trees rustled in the afternoon sun, and Lapis Lazuli reclined on the balcony of her eleventh-story apartment, pen in hand, eyes fixed on the scene in front of her. She found herself often transfixed by the difference in the landscape here, compared to the close, wooded environment of her hometown.

Lapis sketched out an outline of the view from the balcony, lightly drawing in the buildings and the fluffy clouds that she could see, before placing the pen down and reaching for the paintbrush sitting on the table next to her. She had just picked it up when a shadow fell over her, jolting her from her thoughts.

“Painting again?” asked Peridot, shading her eyes with her hand as she squinted at Lapis’ sketchbook. Lapis shifted in her chair to look up at her girlfriend, and noted that Peridot hadn’t even put down her laptop bag yet—she must have just gotten home from work.

“I thought you liked that I was trying something new,” Lapis quipped, grinning. Peridot rolled her eyes and shrugged her bag off her shoulder, planting herself in Lapis’ lap and reaching for the sketchbook.

“Can I see it? You never let me see them before they’re finished.”

“Yeah, that’s because they’re not _good_ before they’re finished.”

“That’s subjective and you know it.”

“I’m not fighting you for this sketchbook on our balcony. I refuse.” Lapis had managed to keep the half-finished sketch away from Peridot so far, holding it just out of her reach. Peridot pouted, but gave up the pursuit.

“Okay, fine. Can I try drawing something, though?”

Lapis frowned. “Why?”

“Because I want to? Do I need to have a reason?”

“I guess not…?”

Peridot leaned closer, resting her forehead against Lapis’. “Pleeeease?” she whined, exaggerating her tone of voice and widening her eyes to portray a faux-innocent demeanor. Lapis snorted, and flipped to the next empty page in the book.

“Okay, fine, but if you use up too many pages you’re buying me a new sketchbook.”

“ _Yes!_ ” Peridot grinned with victory, and snatched the book out of Lapis’ hands. “And don’t worry, there’s no way this is going to be anything less than perfect the first time.”

“If you say so.” Lapis leaned back in her chair once more, trying not to be obvious about watching Peridot as she scribbled intently. Every now and then, she would look up in Lapis’ direction, and Lapis would very quickly pretend to be looking out into the distance.

They fell into a comfortable silence as the world went by around them, the hint of salt on the air, the noise of traffic from down below lulling Lapis into a drowsy contentment. It had only been a few months since they had moved here, and she hadn’t been quite sure how well she was going to take to the West coast. But Lapis had found herself feeling more and more as if it wasn’t really the place she was in that mattered—it was the people (or rather, person) who she was there with. Sharing an apartment with Peridot was really not that different than how they had spent most of their college years, and while the scenery was different, the two of them had been around each other for long enough to settle back into their familiar routines.

If she was being honest with herself, Lapis was beginning to think that she’d be content to keep living with Peridot for however long she’d put up with her.

The sudden end to the scratching from Peridot’s pencil drew Lapis out of her reverie, and she blinked for a moment as she processed that Peridot had asked her a question.

“Sorry, what was that?”

Peridot rolled her eyes. “I _said_ , what do you think about this?” She gestured to the drawing, which Lapis looked at for the first time. Her eyes widened as she took in the image.

Peridot had drawn _her_ , gazing off into the middle distance, chin resting on her hand, not looking at anything in particular. While it wasn’t the most technically-perfect drawing in existence, Lapis was so taken aback by the fact that out of everything, Peridot had spent half an hour or so on drawing a picture of her that the quality of the image didn’t even occur to her. She felt a tightness in her throat, and swallowed hard to dispel the feeling.

“That’s…wow, Peri, I didn’t even know you could draw like that.”

“I don’t, very often. Don’t have the time. But I was thinking about how I wanted to do something for you, and…you just looked so picturesque, sitting out here, gazing out at the scenery, that I wanted to capture that for posterity. The future.”

“I’m genuinely touched, but…did you forget that cameras exist?”

Peridot swatted at Lapis’ shoulder. “I’m trying to be nice to you!”

Lapis laughed, wrapping her arms around Peridot’s waist and pulling her closer to her. The chair creaked ominously, but they both ignored it. “Yeah, I get it. Okay. I love you, you dork.”

“I love you too, you giant nerd.” Peridot smiled brightly, and leaned in to slot her lips with Lapis’. They stayed that way, tangled together on a too-small chair, for a while, letting the city continue on around them, before Peridot pulled back and fixed Lapis with a Look.

“So…are you gonna draw me, too?”


	5. Starlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As ever, thank you so much to everyone who's read this so far!
> 
> Today's prompt is from day 5 of Lapidot Week 2020: Confessions/Surprises
> 
> (the stargazing thing is entirely because celeste is in my animal crossing town and try as i might, i have never been able to find a single shooting star)

It’s midnight, and Lapis has just found a sticky note on the kitchen cabinet above the kettle instructing her to come up to the roof of the apartment building.

Putting aside that she isn’t entirely sure that it’s _allowed_ for them to go up on the roof, she doesn’t quite know what might have possessed Peridot to make her think that being on the roof is a good idea when they have a perfectly serviceable balcony. Yes, it’s small, but there’s only two of them, and what is she planning, anyway, an obstacle course?

None of this means that Lapis isn’t going to _go_ , of course. She’s never been particularly good at saying no to Peridot, and despite her qualms, the request seems harmless enough. It’s a nice change from the routine, and after a couple years, she’s learned to appreciate the small ways that her girlfriend tries to make life interesting for them.

The kettle whistles, and Lapis pours the water into the two awaiting mugs—one chipped on the edge, with a cheesy X-Files graphic plastered across the side, and one in a fairly standard but practical dark blue. In the fluorescent light of the kitchen, tiny flakes of gold shine in the mug’s glazed finish. Lapis pulls out her phone as she waits for the tea to steep, and wastes a few minutes by tapping away on some hilariously-outdated mobile game.

Eventually, mugs in hand, Lapis endeavors to follow the hastily-scrawled map on the back of the original sticky note. It takes some maneuvering, considering her hands are both occupied, but eventually she finds herself at the top of a rickety flight of stairs, pushing down a doorhandle with her elbow and emerging into the crisp night air.

Lapis blinks in surprise. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t… _this_. Strands of tiny string lights wrap around the railing that encircles the roof area, and plant pots cluster in the corners. At the far end, a pile of blankets has been set up, scattered with pillows and a few tiny camping lanterns. And, of course, perched on this blanket fort is none other than Peridot, who had turned around at the noise of the door opening and is staring straight at Lapis with a broad grin on her face.

Glancing around, Lapis feels herself smile as well. She heads across the roof, laughing quietly when Peridot greets her with a perfunctory kiss on the cheek, before practically ripping the blue mug out of her hands.

“I see how it is, you’re only in this for my tea skills.”

“That’s not it at all! You also have many other valuable qualities, such as…coffee skills.”

Lapis rolls her eyes and settles herself on the blankets, leaning up against Peridot as she curls her legs to the side.

“What is all this?” she asks, looking around once again. With the advantage of closeness, she can see all the small details that have gone into the decoration of the roof. “This must have taken weeks.”

Peridot leans her head against Lapis’ shoulder, humming softly. “It wasn’t that long, really. I just would come up here whenever I wanted to think, and one day, I forgot some blankets and stuff when I went back down. So I ordered the lights and stuff off the internet and would just add a piece or two every time I got a chance.”

“Well, it looks beautiful. Consider me impressed.”

“I’m glad you like it—I was trying to keep it as a surprise. I thought it’d be nice to come up and stargaze on a clear night—and luckily, that happened sooner than I thought it would.” Peridot keeps her eyes trained on the sky, the lights surrounding them softly illuminating the golden strands of her hair and the freckles across the bridge of her nose. Lapis considers, in this moment, how she’s not sure that she’s ever seen anyone look as beautiful as Peridot does at times like these—her rarely seen moments where she does something just because she thinks it’ll brighten somebody’s day. She’s not sure how she got so lucky so early on in life, because if Lapis had tried to find somebody quite like Peridot intentionally, she knows she’d never have succeeded.

Even so, she can’t quite resist the urge to mess with her girlfriend a bit.

“Peridot, you’re probably the smartest person I know, but you do remember that we’re in a city, right? How many stars can you even see through all the light pollution?”

That remark earns her a shove and the theft of one of her blankets, but later on, curled up with Peridot as they try to make out constellations from the dimly-visible stars, Lapis finds herself dwelling again on how much she adores the girl that she’s chosen to share her life with for the past several years, and how, if Peridot asked her for the stars, she would find a way to give them to her, no matter how much time it might take or how difficult it might be.


	6. Reflection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this, we've jumped ahead into the future, past _Dinner for Two, in Perpetuity_. Back to the introspective Lapis theme--but I mean, that's what half of this series has been so far, so I'd hope you're not too surprised.
> 
> Today's prompt for Lapidot Week 2020 was for Day 6: Married/Kids AU!
> 
> As ever, thank you so much to anyone who's read and enjoyed this so far--just one more day to go!

It’s been three months, twelve days, and two hours since the ceremony, and Lapis still can’t quite believe she isn’t living in a dream.

Every time she has to fill in a new tax return form, or specify that funds be deposited in their joint bank account, or when she wraps her hands around something and feels the ring on her left hand clink against the surface, she is reminded once again that yes, that _really happened._ She’s not dreaming.

Roughly three and a half months ago, Lapis Lazuli had married Peridot. And since then, she’s been wondering how on Earth this isn’t too good to be true.

She hadn’t quite thought she could ever be this happy. For years, she’d lived with a vague fear in the back of her mind—where are they going with this, how will this end, what if she’s throwing the best years of her life away?

Relationships ultimately progress one of two ways: a break-up, or a marriage.

But, despite her fears, Lapis had found herself in formalwear, watching Peridot sweep down the aisle at the small gathering of their closest friends and family in the small, walled garden of the local park. She had held her hands as they traded vows, fighting back the tears that threatened to stream so easily down their cheeks, and when all was said and done, she had kissed her in front of everyone, and that was that. They had been married, like real adults were.

Lapis didn’t feel much like a real adult, but here she was, with a house and a wife and a proper job. And, above all, an overwhelming sense of astonishment at the way her life had turned out.

The clock on the wall ticks over to five PM ( _three months, twelve days, and three hours,_ Lapis’ brain supplies), and she pushes herself up from her position on the large, comfy sofa. Peridot’s scheduled to work late on Tuesdays, so it’s generally up to Lapis to cook dinner on these nights. She wanders over to the kitchen, pulling open the fridge door and staring into its depths for the fourth time this evening, hoping for inspiration to strike. Maybe she should plan her cooking endeavors ahead of time, like Peridot does, but she thinks that sounds like far too much effort.

Ah well. Pasta it is, then. Lapis has always enjoyed pasta—it’s simple, straightforward, and brings back memories of the first time she’d cooked for Peridot in their miniscule dorm-building kitchen, where the sink was smaller in width than a single fork and the counter space was nonexistent. She busies herself with the familiar routine of collecting all the necessary utensils, a mismatched assortment of things they’d bought on a shoestring budget during sophomore year and the nicer pots and pans that had been a wedding gift from Peridot’s parents. The new cooking supplies were certainly nice, but sometimes Lapis missed the dents and scratches that the old ones had obtained over the course of several instances of being packed up and unpacked in a new location. They hadn’t looked the nicest, but they had more character than any of the shiny new frying pans.

With water set to boil, and a jar of pasta sauce slowly bubbling on the stove, Lapis finds herself again at a bit of a loss for what to do. She flicks on the TV, immediately being greeted with re-runs of _Doctor Who_ and a notice about a conflict in scheduled program recordings. Clearly Peridot’s been at the controls again—she herself would never waste precious DVR space on _Ancient Aliens_. Still, Lapis can’t bring herself to cancel the recording, and instead tells the television to ignore the upcoming broadcast of _H2O_.

She sinks back into her spot on the couch, twiddling the ring on her finger as if to remind herself that it’s still there. It’s not that she regrets anything—and she’d be remiss in arguing that anything’s inherently changed since she’d married Peridot. Ultimately, her life is the same as it’s been for quite a few years now—she lives with the same person, shares the same food, watches the same TV shows, and has a predictable routine.

Lapis thinks, perhaps, that this is what’s bothering her.

She’s thought, all her life, that marriage was supposed to be some monumental event, something life-changing and scary. That you weren’t supposed to be the same person afterwards, that fundamentally something would be different and you’d have a new outlook on things.

She hadn’t been prepared for it to actually be so…unremarkable.

Sure, the whole “getting to make a bunch of bad puns about marriage” thing was great, and she’d had to fight the compulsion to tell everyone she met about the fact that she had a _wife_ , but all in all, her life had stayed the same as it had been since she and Peridot had first signed the joint lease on an apartment out in California—or even, perhaps, since the first time she’d moved all her posessions into a new dorm room, and been confronted with a short blonde who was far too passionate about the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

Ultimately, Lapis was finding married life…comfortingly familiar. And she thought, perhaps, that that was the best indicator that she’d done the right thing with the right person.

The door creaks open, and Lapis jumps, startled from her reverie. Peridot stands in the doorway, keys in hand, coat hanging open, a bag hanging off her shoulder.

“It is I, the great and loveable Peridot Lazuli, home from the arduous trials of my place of employment! What delicacy has my wife prepared for our consumption this evening?” she inquires, dramatic hand gestures nearly sending the ornamental vase sent by Lapis’ aunt toppling over. Peridot steadies it with a wide-eyed glance at Lapis, and Lapis finds herself holding back her laughter at the sight.

“Do you have to do that every day?” she asks instead, trying to hide her ridiculous grin behind her hand. As ever, Peridot isn’t fooled for a second.

“Are you trying to stop me bragging about my lovely spouse? My darling wife? Lazuli, I thought we’d gone over this already.”

“Excuse me? You’re just as much a Lazuli as I am, now. No take-backs.” Lapis finally does laugh, her overly-complicated thoughts evaporating, as they always do, in Peridot’s presence. She had never been able to stay in melancholy reflection for long once the other woman showed up in her life—Peridot was always able to make her smile, and realize when she’d been overthinking everything.

Peridot launches herself into Lapis’ arms, having finished taking off her coat and shoes, and wraps herself around her. “I missed you,” she mumbles into Lapis’ neck, and Lapis’ heart melts all over again, the way it did at the altar, the way it did when Peridot had asked her to stay with her after college, and even the first time, when Peridot had admitted that she’d like their freshman-year dinner outing to perhaps be considered as a date.

Yes, _this_ is why she’d married Peridot—and why she’d never think for a second that her life would be better if it had changed in any way at all once she’d done so.


	7. Perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are at the conclusion--I hope you've enjoyed this series of little insights into the _Roommate's Heart_ universe! Thank you so much to everyone who's been following this--I know this was a bit out of left field initially, but this AU kind of stuck with me, and I wanted to explore it in more detail--and this week's prompts definitely gave me the opportunity.
> 
> Today's final chapter is from Day 7's prompt: First/Last Kiss. (But, of course, I couldn't just end this on a sad note, so I've instead gone with possibly one of the fluffiest things I've written. Enjoy!)

Arguably, Lapis thinks, they’ve had plenty of first kisses. It all depends on your perspective.

Their first first kiss had, of course, been right after their very first date—planted on an unsuspecting Peridot’s lips by Lapis when she’d spied the opportunity. She had been seized by some uncharacteristic confidence, and had fled immediately, but she’d always looked back on the moment fondly—especially when she recalled Peridot’s expression.

Their first kiss as _girlfriends_ had happened quite soon after. Once they’d had a chat about this whole dating thing, Peridot had tentatively leaned in, wrapping an arm around Lapis’ shoulders and letting their mouths meet with a gentleness that betrayed just how nervous she had been. While their first kiss had been impulsive, brief, and pretty dramatic, this one had been slow and careful and entirely deliberate. Lapis had never been kissed in such a fashion, and she’d felt the weight of the emotions that Peridot had been trying to convey in every tiny little detail—her carefully-regulated breathing, her hand in Lapis’ hair, the way she leaned her weight comfortingly into Lapis—all of this was imbued with such tenderness that Lapis had nearly found herself with tears in her eyes.

Lapis herself had been entirely responsible for their first kiss that had led to… _other things_ , and she still finds herself blushing when she thinks of that night. They had been inexperienced, and nervous, and constantly worried about being heard through the thin dorm-room walls…but ultimately, she wouldn’t have had it any other way. Despite the fumbling and the awkwardness, there had not been a more genuine way to experience such things, and Lapis treasured the memory for what it was.

Their first kiss outside of school had been the result of a trip planned once they’d realized quite how long summer vacation was set to be, and had resulted in Lapis being shoved back against her just-closed car door as she’d pulled into Peridot’s driveway to be met with the other girl sprinting out of the house full-speed towards her. They’d only had time for a short trip between Lapis’ family plans and Peridot’s summer job, but they’d made the most of the time they’d had for sure.

After graduation, their first kiss as non-college-students had occurred while standing on the school seal, following a student tradition that was mostly baseless superstition but still fun. They’d collected their diplomas and managed to sneak in between the crowds of people trying to get photos, employing Amethyst to snap a picture of them with arms around each other and feet firmly on the engraved metal plaque. Peridot had had the photograph framed, and Lapis had been met with it sat on her bedside table once she’d fully moved into their shared apartment in California.

Their first kiss as co-leasers of an apartment happened three feet from the door of said apartment, and had been a perfunctory thing, outdone almost immediately by their _second_ kiss as co-leasers and overshadowed entirely by their third.

It could be debated that there was another category for their first kiss in the Pacific Ocean, but that might be getting a little pedantic.

After Peridot’s somewhat impromptu proposal, their first kiss as fiancées was one of the sweetest things Lapis had encountered since college—and was also fueled somewhat by sleep deprivation and the exhaustion of unpacking the boxes stacked in their new home. She supposed, looking back, that it shared the distinction of also being their first kiss as homeowners—though she hadn’t considered that at the time.

Not very much later on, they’d had their first kiss after they were married, up in front of all their friends and families in the little garden in the park. Peridot had been crying, and Lapis had been a bit watery-eyed herself, and their arms had wrapped around each other so tightly that Lapis had really considered the possibility that they would never let go. She wasn’t sure how it compared to all the others—but then again, it had never been a competition, had it?

Their first kiss on their wedding night had been full of the confidence that had been lacking all those years ago, and they’d spent the night together with the kind of comfortable familiarity borne of a years-long relationship and of knowing each other almost as well as they knew themselves.

There were fewer first kisses now, but that was somewhat inconsequential. As long as Lapis could wake up in the morning, confident in being able to give Peridot the first kiss of the day, she’d accept the decline in monumentally impressive first kisses. After all, there were still the little firsts—their first kiss of the week, of the month, of the year. The first kiss on the new sofa, or their first kiss after Peridot’s first day of work at a new job.

Perspective is everything, and Lapis is fairly certain, as she gives Peridot their first kiss of that particular evening, that they’ve only got more little first kisses ahead of them.

After all, that’s the best part about their relationship—they’re always finding new things that they can do together, that they love about each other, and all the other infinite firsts that they’ll be encountering, as ever, side-by-side.


End file.
